I’ve had a total shoe-boner for Common Projects for over a year now, they’re the closest to perfection I think you can get in a shoe. Well Blackbird has a sweet preview of their Fall/Winter 2008 line-up and one shoe in particular has my heart, the Achilles Mid Top in dark gray, the shoe you see above. There’s something about the all gray that gives me chills. I’ve seen a couple other shoes that were similar to this, but it’s the fact that even the rubber sole is gray that excites me.

Sadly, these beauties are $516 $346, something I would personally never pay for a shoe, but if you have the cash just laying around happen to rob a bank, totally snag a pair of these perfect shoes.

I try not to make this blog about my personal life, though my personal life is mentioned here and there as a point of reference. But I had to show you all the video above because, well, it’s pretty ridiculous. The company I design for, Causecast, has this thing we call The Causecast, which features news about causes and things happening in relation to causes. Well, my boss Levi asked me if I wanted to present one of the stories in my “sassy, Bobby fasion”, and since I have no shame, I decided to do it.

It’s kind of weird because now you’ll all know what I sound like and how I move, but it’s kind of funny at the same time, like breaking the third wall in a play or something. Anyhow, I hope you all get a kick out of this, and if you need to cast a leading role in an action movie, I’m definitely available.

Going through my folder of desktop wallpapers, I sometimes lose track of some amazing gems that I still have to give away to you all, and this wallpaper is a fine example. The artist is a guy named Ryan Quincy, a fellow who wrote me in March asking if he could submit a design to the DWP. I checked out his work and thought it was pretty funny, plus he happens to be the animation director on South Park (seriously, IMDB him) so I thought he might come up with something pretty sweet. I also asked him if his piece could be painted, and awesome enough he actually said yes!

The wallpaper itself is pretty rad, in fact it almost looks like it was painted directly onto an old desktop, something I think is genius. It’s filled with all sorts of Ryan’s little critters and creations, flying through the air off to do something magical I’m sure. I love all the colors and shapes, and it’s kind of funny but there’s even room for icons, at least for us Apple folk. I think it’s also cool to have a change a pace from all the computer drawn wallpapers to something that’s been done lovingly by hand. Awesome job Ryan, thanks for the sick wallpaper.

This is the most insane thing ever. Fashion designer Adam Kimmel teamed up with photographer Ari Marcopoulos to create a video showcasing some new suits created by Kimmel… or at least I’m pretty sure that’s what happened. Anyhow, instead of doing something funny or artsy, Ari got a couple of guys to dress up in the suits and longboard down a CRAZY HUGE hill!

This video is absolutely nuts. They could easily be going 40, 50, 60 mph? And the fact that this isn’t a closed road or anything is horrifying, especially when you see them carving all over the road. If they fell, they’d seriously lose all the skin on whatever part that landed first! Definitely watch the video, at the very least to see how they stop! haha…

I can’t remember how I came across the photos of Michael Kenna, but I instantly became smitten with their haunting simplicity. As you can see above his photos are extremely minimal, a wash of cream with black objects poking up here and there. My favorites are his series from Hokkaido, Japan which were taken there in the winter, obviously to give him even more white to use. His website has a ton of his work, starting with this year and going back as far as 1976!

I also came across this YouTube video talking about Michael and his process. I would like to say that video is kind of pretentious sounding and maybe he takes himself a little too seriously, but it’s always nice to see the behind-the-scenes of a cool photographer.

Flipping through the most recent issue of Wallpaper I came across this amazing illustration done for the contributor section by those wacky kids over at HORT. I’m in love with the simplicity of the illustrations and the creativity of using 3D shapes like that to display them on. I also really love the color of blue the shapes are sitting on, they really stand out so well this way. A really simple but wonderfully executed idea.

I came across this art show a couple weeks ago, which sadly opened open on the 5th, but I still thought it was worth a mention. The show is called Dirty Laundry, which is “devoted to the concept of potential.” What that means in this context is making art out of dirty t-shirts. Basically they asked some really amazing artists to create art of out what would normally be mistakes, like turning grass stains into something beautiful. The list of artists is rather impressive as well, featuring Alan Koshini, April Lee, Andrew Degraff, Christopher David Ryan, Damien Correll, Frank Chimero, Jason Laurits, Labour (Wyeth Hansen & Ryan Dunn), Kate Bingaman-Burt, Keetra Dean Dixon, Kris Chau, Mike Perry, Nikolay Saveliev, Nathaniel Russell, Roanne Adams, Rosemarie Fiore, Roland Adams, Steve Kiyabu, Simone Rubi, Tim Gough, Topos Graphics and Travis Stearns.

I think this is a really great idea, I definitely never thought of trying to turn a mistake like a stain on a shirt into something beautiful. The image above is from Labour, made up of Wyeth Hansen and Ryan Dunn, as they stain a shirt with geometric dots. I would totally buy that shirt! Take a look at the site and see what other rad stuff the participants came up with.

A couple weeks ago I wrote about a scene from the Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton documentary by Loic Prigent, and since then I had the chance to watch it. It’s definitely become one of my favorite things this year, I think I’ve watched three times by now. When I watched the documentary the first time I thought it was quite ramshackle, or like there was a lot of randomness. But as I continued watching I realized there was a method to the madness, that all of the random events that happen in Marc Jacobs life contribute to his overall design aesthetic. Like pieces to a very random, but beautiful puzzle.

The film is also rather inspiring, after watching it I always feel energized and like I can do anything. If you’re a fan of fashion, design, or anything artistic I highly suggest getting this movie. I also thought it was cool that Genevieve Gauckler did the credits, which are quite sketchy and random and fun, much like Mr. Jacobs.